CHAPTER VIII 



HORSES OF ANCIENT ARABIA 



I TRUST I may be permitted here somewhat to 

 digress in consequence of a matter which I noticed 

 after I had written most of this book, viz., a 

 passage in an Australian newspaper which stated 

 that down to the Christian era the Arabs had 

 no horses, a statement which has been used to 

 detract from the purity and merits of the Arab 

 breed. 



Say some people : ' Oh ! if there were no horses in 

 Arabia before Christ, the old story about the pure 

 Arab is a myth.' Of course, that is a non- 

 sequitur. 



I am not concerned to investigate this statement 

 very deeply, as it does not seriously affect the 

 practical question, because a breed kept pure since 

 the time of Christ — say nearly 2,000 years — may be 

 fairly enough called a truly pure breed ; yet as the 

 statement opens up one of the most fascinating 

 subjects that could possibly be inquired into — the 

 history and literature of the early peoples of the 

 Bible — a subject which has always had for me the 



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